NationMaster - Encyclopedia: L7 (machine gun)

The L7 machine gun general purpose machine gun is used by the British Army. It and the related L8 are a licence-built derivative of the Belgian FN MAG (Fabrique Nationale Mitrailleuse d'Appui Generale 1958) machine gun firing the standard 7.62 mm NATO cartridge. A general purpose machine gun (GPMG) in concept is a compromise weapon, a machine gun intended to fill the role of either a light machine gun or medium machine gun, while at the same time being man-portable. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The FN MAG is a machine gun manufactured by Fabrique Nationale (FN), Belgium. ... Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, more often known as Fabrique Nationale and abbreviated simply as FN, is a well-known firearm manufacturer that originated in the Belgian city of Herstal, near Liège. ... NATO 7. ...

The official British Army designation is L7A2 GPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun), but it is affectionately nicknamed "Gimpy" by British soldiers. The L7 replaced the long-serving Vickers machine gun. The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled . ...

History

The FN MAG was one of several weapons considerd for use as the Army's suppressive fire weapon. Over a period of a year it was tested alongside the US M60, two designs by the Swiss firm SIG, the then MAG design and a design by RSAF Enfield, a conversion of the Bren gun to belt feed. Alongside the other candidates, the MAG was considered in the top two alongside the Enfield design. Work on this was dropped and the MAG selected. Modifications to the basic FN design were incorporated and it entered service as the L7A1. Subsequent modifications led to the L7A2. Because one of the requirements was for heavy supressive fire, something the Vickers machine gun excelled at, a heavy barrel was designed for the gun for this role. A number of these were supplied at company level and could be issued to the platoons as necessary. The term M60 can refer to several things: The M60 motorway The M60 Patton tank The M60 machine gun An astronomical object, see Messier 60 BMW M60, a BMW piston engine This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same... The RSAF at Enfield was closed in 1987 and the majority of the site is now covered by a large housing development. ... Bren is also a commune of the Drôme département in France. ... The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled . ... A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 100-200 soldiers. ...

The nature of the MAG design made it inherently unsuitable in an unmodified form for use within vehicles. The major changes required were a means to take the vented gas outide the vehicle and to enable belt feed from either side in possibly cramped conditions. The former was solved by a modification to the muzzle - a simple tube drew the gas exhaust from the regulator area forward.

Variants in British Service

See also

Categories: Articles lacking sources from October 2006 | All articles lacking sources | General purpose machine guns | British Army | Tank guns | Weapons of the United Kingdom Combatants United Nations: Republic of Korea United States United Kingdom Canada Australia The Netherlands France Philippines Turkey Ethiopia Communist states: Democratic Peopleâ€™s Republic of Korea Peopleâ€™s Republic of China Soviet Union Commanders Syngman Rhee Chung Il Kwon Douglas MacArthur Mark W. Clark Matthew Ridgway Kim Il-sung Choi... The Browning L9A1 is a semi-automatic pistol, firing a 9×19 mm bullet from a 13-round magazine. ... P226 The Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG)-Sauer P226 is a full-sized, service type pistol originally chambered for 9mm Luger. ... The Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG)-Sauer P226 is a full-sized, service type pistol originally chambered for 9 mm Luger. ... Caliber: 9 x 19 mm Parabellum / 7. ... 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Although Heckler & Koch states that the Heckler & Koch 53 (short: HK 53) should be considered an assault rifle because it fires the 5. ... {{Infobox Weapon|is_ranged=yes| |image= |caption= M16A2 |name= M16 |type= Service rifle |origin= United States of America |era= Vietnam War, modern |design_date= 1957 |production_date=1960â€“ |service=1960â€“ |used_by= U.S., NATO, Israel, Greece, others |wars= Vietnam War, Gulf War, Iraq War |spec_type= Selective fire/Assault rifle |caliber= 20 MM |part_length... The C7 is a variation of the M16 rifle that is manufactured by Diemaco, a subsidiary of Colt Firearms, and used by the Canadian Forces, HÃ¦rens Jegerkommando (Norway), Military of Denmark (all branches) and the Royal Netherlands Army as its main infantry weapon. ... The G3 (Gewehr 3) is a family of select fire battle rifles manufactured by Heckler & Koch. ... A U.S. Army soldier peers through a scope mounted atop his M-14 rifle during operations in Iraq A sniper rifle is a type of rifle used for engaging in the act of sniping, most purely a rifle used for shooting with great accuracy. ... The Lee-Enfield was the British armys standard bolt action, magazine-fed, repeating rifle from 1895 until 1956. ... The L96A1 is the name given by the British Army to the Accuracy Arctic Warfare (AW). ... The Super Magnum(L115A1) is a precision rifle or sniper rifle produced by the British firm Accuracy International. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The AW50F is a . ... An MP5A4 (fixed stock and 3-round burst trigger group), a popular modern submachine gun A submachine gun is a firearm that combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol, and is usually between the two in weight and size. ... The Sterling submachine gun is a British submachine gun which was in service with the British Army from 1953 until 1988 when it was phased out with the introduction of the L85A1 SA80 assault rifle. ... The MP5K (German: Maschinenpistole 5 Kurz, Machine Pistol 5, Short) is a submachine gun manufactured by Heckler & Koch. ... The Heckler & Koch MP5 is a family of submachine guns developed by German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch (HK) in the 1960s. ... A pump-action and two semi-automatic action shotguns, 20 boxes of shotgun shells, a clay trap, and three boxes of clay pigeons. ... The Browning Auto-5 was a recoil-operated autoloading shotgun designed by John Browning. ... US Air Force issue Remington 870 known as the M870. ... A . ... The Bren (from Brno, the Czechoslovakian town of design, and Enfield, the British manufacturer), usually called the Bren Gun, was a series of machine guns adopted by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles into the 1980s. ... This article is about the . ... Under-Slung Grenade Launcher (UGL) is the under-barrel 40 mm grenade launcher used by the British Army in conjunction with the SA80 A2 Rifle, and in small numbers with the Diemaco C7 Rifle used by the SAS. It is designed and built by Heckler and Koch (HK) and is... The LAW 80 is an anti-tank weapon in service with the British Army. ... Carl Gustav recoilless rifle The Carl Gustav is the common name for the 84mm recoilless rifle anti-tank weapon from the Carl Gustav company in Sweden. ... AT4 Type anti-tank Nationality Sweden Era Cold War, modern Launch platform Individual, Vehicle Target Vehicle, Fortification History Builder Saab Bofors Dynamics Date of design Production period Service duration Operators Sweden, France, USA Variants Pansarskott M/86, M136 AT4 Number built Specifications Type Diameter 84 mm Wing span Length 1016... The L9A1 51 mm Light Mortar is a man-portable mortar system used by the British Army. ... The United Kingdoms L16 81 mm mortar is the standard mortar used by the British army. ... Milan (Italian: Milano; Milanese: MilÃ¡n (listen)) is the main city of northern Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. ... A soldier practices with the Javelin on a firing range. ...